Obiena settles for bronze

MANILA, Philippines — Tokyo-bound Filipino pole vault ace EJ Obiena failed to sustain his strong showing in Ostrava a few days back as he settled for the bronze in the 2020 Poznan Athletics Grand Prix in Poland yesterday.

Fresh from a scintillating gold medal performance in the star-studded Golden Spike meet in the Czech Republic where he vaulted to a 5.74 meters Wednesday, the 24-year-old Obiena managed just 5.52m this time.

The reigning SEA Games gold medalist and record-holder actually ended up in a three-way tie for second with Robert Sobera of Poland and Matt Ludwig of the United States.

But Sobera took the silver while Obiena and Ludwig were both given the bronze after ending up tied after countback.

Polish Piotr Lisek, a 2017 World Championship silver medal winner, captured the gold with 5.62m.

While it was far from his effort in Ostrava where he beat former Olympic and world champions and an ex-world record holder, it was still another podium finish for Obiena nonetheless as he now hiked his total haul to a gold, a couple of silver and the same number of bronze out of six competitions since he returned to action last month from the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.

He is hoping to get a spot in the ISTAF Continental Tour tonight in Berlin, Germany where he is waitlisted and is scheduled to compete in the Rome and Doha legs of the Diamond League on September 17 and 24, respectively, as part of his Olympic preparation.